Method, apparatus, and system for estimating body fat

ABSTRACT

A method, an apparatus, and a system for estimating body fat that are capable of measuring a portion of an abdominal outline by a simple method are provided. 
     A method of estimating the body fat according to the present embodiments includes: a step of obtaining orientation information and motion information of the apparatus itself; a step of calculating a portion of an abdominal outline by a control unit based on the orientation information and the motion information; and a step of estimating, based on the portion of the abdominal outline, at least one of a visceral fat area and a subcutaneous fat area of the abdominal cross-section.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Japanese PatentApplication No. 2013-128266 filed on Jun. 19, 2013, Japanese PatentApplication No. 2013-180320 filed on Aug. 30, 2013, Japanese PatentApplication No. 2013-246574 filed on Nov. 28, 2013, andPCT/JP2014/000460 filed on Jan. 29, 2014, the entire contents of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method, an apparatus, and a systemfor estimating body fat.

BACKGROUND ART

A growth in metabolic syndrome (hereinafter, referred simply to as “MS”)has become a social problem. In Japan, “visceral fat type obesity” is amandatory field for determination of the MS. A determining method usingvisceral fat area obtained by computed tomography (hereinafter, referredsimply to as “CT”) or a circumference of the waist as a reference of thevisceral fat type obesity has been proposed. Only limited facilities mayconduct the CT. The visceral fat type obesity is determined withreference to the circumference of the waist. However, the determinationon the visceral fat type obesity with reference to the circumference ofthe waist has room for improvement in accuracy.

As such, quantification of the visceral fat area without using the CThas been attempted. Patent Document 1 discloses a visceral fat measuringapparatus that may operate an abdominal morphometric unit, which is acombination of an encoder for measuring a distance and an angularvelocity meter, along a periphery of the abdomen and thereby obtain atwo-dimensional shape of the abdomen from a measured value. That is,from an abdominal area obtained from the two-dimensional shape of theabdomen and a subcutaneous fat distribution measured by an ultrasonicapparatus, a visceral fat amount is measured.

Also, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses a method of measuring athree-dimensional shape of the abdomen by using two range finders andestimating the visceral fat area from an abdominal cross-sectional shapeat a navel position.

RELATED ART DOCUMENTS Patent Document

-   Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication    No. 2001-212111

Non-Patent Document

-   Senichi Saito and two others, “Method of estimating visceral fat    area from abdominal cross-sectional shape”, IEICE journal. D,    Information System, Nov. 1, 2009, J92-D(11), p. 2059-2066

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

However, as described in paragraph [0040] of Patent Document 1, ameasurement unit needs to be moved around the abdomen to measure anabdominal shape. Therefore, there has been a problem that it isdifficult for a user to measure the abdominal shape by moving his/herhand around the body.

Also, Non-Patent Document 1, in order to estimate the visceral fat,needs to obtain an accurate abdominal cross-sectional shape around theabdomen. To that end, it is necessary to use two stationary rangefinders. Therefore, it is unpractical for an individual, for his/herhealth management, to measure the abdominal shape and estimate thevisceral fat area on a daily basis.

An object of the present invention in light of the above problems is toprovide a method, an apparatus, and a system capable of estimating abody fat area of the abdomen based on a portion of an abdominal outlinemeasured by a simple method.

Solution to Problem

In order to solve the above problems, a method of estimating the bodyfat according to the present invention includes: a step of obtainingorientation information and motion information of an apparatus itself; astep of calculating a portion of an abdominal outline by a control unit,based on the orientation information and the motion information; and astep of estimating, based on the calculated portion of the abdominaloutline, at least one of a visceral fat area and a subcutaneous fat areaof an abdominal cross-section.

Preferably, there is a further step of controlling a display by thecontrol unit to display an image of the abdominal cross-sectioncorresponding to at least one of the visceral fat area and thesubcutaneous fat area that are estimated.

In order to solve the above problems, also, a method of estimating abody fat according to the present invention includes: a step ofobtaining orientation information and motion information of an apparatusitself; a step of calculating a portion of an abdominal outline by acontrol unit, based on the orientation information and the motioninformation; a step of calculating shape characteristics of the portionof the abdominal outline; and a step of estimating, based on the shapecharacteristics, an abdominal cross-sectional circumference.

Preferably, there is a further step of carrying out correction by thecontrol unit such that the abdominal outline forms a continuous closedcurve, based on the portion of the abdominal outline.

Preferably, there is a further step of estimating, when the portion ofthe abdominal outline is shorter than a predetermined portion of theabdominal outline, based on a portion of the abdominal outline that isshorter than the predetermined portion of the abdominal outline andsuitable for the estimation, at least one of a visceral fat area and asubcutaneous fat area of the abdominal cross-section.

In order to solve the above problems, also, an apparatus according tothe present invention includes: a first sensor for obtaining orientationinformation of the apparatus itself; a device for obtaining motioninformation of the apparatus itself; and a display for displaying animage of an abdominal cross-section corresponding to at least one of avisceral fat area and a subcutaneous fat area of the abdominalcross-section estimated based on a portion of an abdominal outlinecalculated based on the orientation information and the motioninformation.

Preferably, the first sensor may include an orientation sensor, anangular velocity sensor, or an inclination sensor.

Preferably, the device may include a second sensor for obtaining themotion information of the apparatus itself.

Preferably, the second sensor may include an acceleration sensor or anelectronic tape measure.

Preferably, the device may include a timer.

Preferably, the apparatus may further include a sound generation unitfor generating sound at predetermined intervals while the device isobtaining the motion information.

Preferably, when a predetermined range of the orientation information isnot obtained, the display is prevented from displaying the image of theabdominal cross-section.

Preferably, the apparatus may further include a control unit which, byusing the orientation information and the motion information obtainedafter the apparatus has a predetermined posture ready for a measurement,calculates the portion of the abdominal outline.

In order to solve the above problems, further, a system according to thepresent invention includes: a probe; a first sensor for obtainingorientation information of the probe; a device for obtaining motioninformation of the probe; and a control unit for estimating, based on aportion of an abdominal cross-section calculated based on theorientation information and the motion information, at least one of avisceral fat area and a subcutaneous fat area of the abdominalcross-section.

Effect of the Invention

According to the present invention, based on the portion of theabdominal outline obtained by a simple method, a body fat area of theabdomen may be estimated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating an exterior of asmartphone according to embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic elevation view illustrating the exterior of thesmartphone according to the embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic rear view illustrating the exterior of thesmartphone according to the embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating functions of thesmartphone according to the embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating measurement of an abdominalcross-sectional outline according to the embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of measurement of a cross-sectional outlineaccording to the embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 7A illustrates an example of orientation according to theembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 7B illustrates an example of a moving amount according to theembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates exemplary records of orientation information andmotion information according to the embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a calculated cross-sectional outlineaccording to the embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating correction of the calculatedcross-sectional outline according to the embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating correction based on an actual measuredvalue according to the embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view illustrating an electronic tape measureaccording to the embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 13A is a schematic view illustrating an example of classificationof the abdominal cross-sectional outline according to the embodiments ofthe present invention;

FIG. 13B is a schematic view illustrating an example of classificationof the abdominal cross-sectional outline according to the embodiments ofthe present invention;

FIG. 13C is a schematic view illustrating an example of classificationof the abdominal cross-sectional outline according to the embodiments ofthe present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram illustrating functions of thesmartphone according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of measurement of the cross-sectional outlineaccording to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates exemplary records of the orientation information andthe motion information according to the second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing beforedisplaying an image of the abdominal cross-section according to a thirdembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of orientation of asmartphone 1 according to the third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 19 illustrates exemplary records made up of obtained informationaccording to the third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a cross-sectional outline calculatedand corrected according to the third embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 21 illustrates an example of a classification table of the image ofthe abdominal cross-section according to the third embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart for creating a visceral fat area estimationequation and a subcutaneous fat area estimation equation according tothe third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing beforedisplaying the image of the abdominal cross-section according to afourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of orientation of thesmartphone 1 according to the fourth embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating a cross-sectional outline calculatedand corrected according to the fourth embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating the abdominal cross-section;

FIG. 27A is a diagram illustrating a comparison of complementing methodsof the abdominal outline according to the fourth embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 27B is a diagram illustrating the comparison of complementingmethods of the abdominal outline according to the fourth embodiment ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 28 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an apparatus having acommunication means and a system according to the embodiments of thepresent invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings.

In the present embodiments, a smartphone 1 is employed as an example ofan apparatus, and the human abdomen is used as an example of an object.

First Embodiment

A smartphone 1 as an apparatus itself includes at least a first sensorunit for obtaining orientation information, a device unit for obtainingmotion information, and a controller 10 for calculating across-sectional outline of the object. According to the presentembodiment, the device unit for obtaining the motion informationincludes a second sensor unit.

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, an exterior of the smartphone 1according to a first embodiment will be described.

A housing 20 includes a front face 1A, a rear face 1B, and side faces1C1 to 1C4. The front face 1A is a front portion of the housing 20. Therear face 1B is a rear portion of the housing 20. The side faces 1C1 to1C4 are side portions for connecting the front face 1A and the rear face1B. Hereinafter, the side faces 1C1 to 1C4 may be collectively referredto as a side face 1C without specifying which one of the side faces.

The smartphone 1 includes, on the front face 1A, a touchscreen display2, buttons 3A to 3C, an illuminance sensor 4, a proximity sensor 5, areceiver 7, a microphone 8, and a camera 12. The smartphone 1 includes acamera 13 on the rear face 1B. The smartphone 1 includes buttons 3D to3F and a connector 14 on the side face 1C. Hereinafter, the buttons 3Ato 3F may be collectively referred to as a button 3 without specifyingwhich one of the buttons.

The touchscreen display 2 includes a display 2A and a touchscreen 2B.The display 2A includes a display device such as a liquid crystaldisplay (Liquid Crystal Display), an organic electro-luminescence panel(Organic Electro-Luminescence panel), or an inorganicelectro-luminescence panel (Inorganic Electro-Luminescence panel). Thedisplay 2A displays characters, images, symbols, figures and the like.

The touchscreen 2B detects a contact thereto by a finger, a stylus penand the like. The touchscreen 2B may detect positions of contactsthereto by a plurality of fingers or stylus pens.

The touchscreen 2B may be of any detection type such as a capacitivetype, a resistive film type, a surface acoustic wave type (or anultrasonic type), an infrared type, an electromagnetic induction type, aload detection type and the like. The touchscreen 2B of the capacitivetype may detect a contact or an approach by the finger or the styluspen.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the smartphone1. The smartphone 1 includes the touchscreen display 2, the button 3,the illuminance sensor 4, the proximity sensor 5, a communication unit6, the receiver 7, the microphone 8, a storage 9, the controller 10, atimer 11, the cameras 12 and 13, the connector 14, and a motion sensor15.

The touchscreen display 2, as described above, includes the display 2Aand the touchscreen 2B. The display 2A displays the characters, theimages, the symbols, and the figures. The touchscreen 2B receives acontact to a reception region as an input. That is, the touchscreen 2Bdetects the contact. The controller 10 detects a gesture to thesmartphone 1. The controller 10, in corporation with the touchscreen 2B,detects an operation (the gesture) to the touchscreen 2B (thetouchscreen display 2). Also, the controller 10, in corporation with thetouchscreen 2B, detects an operation (the gesture) to the display 2A(the touchscreen display 2).

The button 3 is operated by a user. The button 3 includes the buttons 3Ato 3F. The controller 10, in cooperation with the button 3, detects anoperation to the button. The operation to the button may be, forexample, a click, a double click, a push, a long push, or a multi-push.

For example, the buttons 3A to 3C are any one of a home button, a backbutton, and a menu button. According to the present embodiment, thebuttons 3A to 3C are of touch sensor type. For example, the button 3D isa power on/off button of the smartphone 1. The button 3D may alsofunction as a sleep/sleep cancel button. For example, the buttons 3E and3F are volume buttons.

The illuminance sensor 4 detects illuminance. The illuminance includes,for example, intensity, brightness, and luminance of the light. Theilluminance sensor 4 is used for, for example, adjustment of theluminance of the display 2A.

The proximity sensor 5 carries out a non-contact detection of a presenceof an object positioned nearby. The proximity sensor 5 detects, forexample, the face approaching the touchscreen display 2.

The communication unit 6 carries out a radio communication. Acommunication method employed by the communication unit 6 conforms to aradio communication standard. As the radio communication standard, thereare, for example, communication standards for a cellular phone such as2G, 3G, and 4G. As communication standards for the cellular phone, thereare LTE (Long Term Evolution), W-CDMA, CDMA2000, PDC, GSM (registeredtrademark), and PHS (Personal Handy-phone System). As the radiocommunication standard, there are, for example, WiMAX (WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access), IEEE802.11, Bluetooth(registered trademark), IrDA, and NFC. The communication unit 6 maysupport one or more of the foregoing communication standards.

The receiver 7 outputs a voice signal transmitted from the controller 10as voice. The microphone 8 converts the voice of the user into the voicesignal and transmits the voice signal to the controller 10. Thesmartphone 1 may further include a speaker in place of the receiver 7.

The storage 9 stores programs and data. Also, the storage 9 is used as awork area for temporarily storing a result of processing of thecontroller 10. The storage 9 may include any storage device such as asemiconductor storage device, a magnetic storage device and the like.Also, the storage 9 may include a plurality of types of the storagedevices. Further, the storage 9 may include a combination of a mobilestorage medium, such as a memory card, and a storage medium reader.

The programs stored in the storage 9 include an application that runs inthe foreground or background and a control program for supporting anoperation of the application. The application, for example, controls thedisplay 2A to display a predetermined image and controls the controller10 to execute the processing based on the gesture detected via thetouchscreen 2B. The control program is, for example, OS. The applicationand the control program may be installed to the storage 9 via the radiocommunication by the communication unit 6 or via the storage medium.

The storage 9 stores, for example, a control program 9A, a messageapplication 9B, a browser application 9C, and a measurement application9Z. The message application 9B serves an email function for creation,transmission, reception, and display of email. The browser application9C serves a WEB browsing function for displaying WEB pages. Themeasurement application 9Z serves a measuring function that allows theuser to measure a cross-sectional outline of the object by using thesmartphone 1.

The control program 9A serves a function associated with variouscontrols for operating the smartphone 1. The control program 9A, forexample, achieves a call by controlling the communication unit 6, thereceiver 7, and the microphone 8. Note that the function served by thecontrol program 9A may be used in combination with a function served byanother program such as the message application 9B.

The controller 10 is, for example, CPU (Central Processing Unit). Thecontroller 10 may be an integrated circuit such as SoC(System-on-a-Chip) having another components such as the communicationunit 6 and the like integrated therein. The controller 10 may have astructure in which a plurality of integrated circuits are combined. Thecontroller 10 achieves various functions by generally controllingoperations of the smartphone 1.

The controller 10, in particular, refers data stored in the storage 9 asnecessary. The controller 10 executes an instruction included in theprogram stored in the storage 9 and controls the display 2A, thecommunication unit 6, and the motion sensor 15, thereby achieving thevarious functions. The controller 10 achieves the various functions byexecuting an instruction included in the measurement application 9Zstored in the storage 9. The controller 10, based on a result ofdetection by each of detection units such as the touchscreen 2B, thebutton 3, and the motion sensor 15, may change the control. According tothe present embodiment, the controller 10 entirely functions as acontrol unit. The controller 10, based on the orientation informationobtained by the first sensor unit and the motion information obtained bythe second sensor unit, calculates the cross-sectional outline of theobject.

The timer 11 outputs a clock signal at a predetermined frequency. Thetimer 11, upon reception of an instruction of timer operation from thecontroller 10, outputs the clock signal to the controller 10. The firstsensor unit and the second sensor unit, based on the clock signal inputvia the controller 10, obtains the orientation information and themotion information, respectively, for a plurality of times. Note thatthe timer 11 may be disposed outside the controller 10 or, asillustrated in FIG. 14 described below, contained in the controller 10.

The camera 12 is an in-camera for capturing an object facing the frontface 1A. The camera 13 is an out-camera for capturing an object facingthe rear face 1B.

The connector 14 is a terminal for connecting to another apparatus. Theconnector 14 according to the present embodiment also functions as acommunication unit for allowing the smartphone 1 to communicate withanother apparatus via a connection object connected to the terminal. Theconnector 14 may be a generic terminal such as USB (Universal SerialBus), HDMI (registered trademark) (High-Definition MultimediaInterface), MHL (Mobile High-definition Link), Light Peak, Thunderbolt,a LAN connector (Local Area Network connector), and an earphone and/ormicrophone connector. The connector 14 may be an exclusively designedterminal such as a Dock connector. The apparatus connected to theconnector 14 may be, for example, a battery charger, an externalstorage, a speaker, a communication apparatus, and an informationprocessing apparatus.

The motion sensor 15 detects a motion factor. The motion factor isprimarily processed as a control factor of the smartphone 1 itself. Thecontrol factor indicates a condition of the smartphone 1 itself and isprocessed by the controller 10. The motion sensor 15 according to thepresent embodiment includes an acceleration sensor 16, an orientationsensor 17, an angular velocity sensor 18, and an inclination sensor 19.Outputs from the acceleration sensor 16, the orientation sensor 17, theangular velocity sensor 18, and the inclination sensor 19 may be used incombination. Processing a combination of the outputs of the motionsensor 15 allows the controller 10 to carry out the processing thathighly reflects a movement of the smartphone 1 itself.

According to the present embodiment, the first sensor unit obtainsorientation information of the smartphone 1 itself. The orientationinformation of the smartphone is information output from the firstsensor unit and associates with an orientation of the smartphone 1. Theorientation information of the smartphone 1 includes, for example, adirection of geomagnetism, an inclination with respect to thegeomagnetism, a direction of a rotation angle, a change in the rotationangle, a direction of the gravity, an inclination with respect to thegravity and the like.

The orientation of the smart phone 1 refers to a normal direction of asurface of the housing 20 facing the object at the time of measurementof the cross-sectional outline of the object. The surface of the housing20 made to face the object may be a surface which orientation isdetectable by the first sensor unit, and may be any one of the frontface 1A, the rear face 1B, and the side faces 1C1 to 1C4.

According to the present embodiment, the orientation sensor 17 is usedas the first senor unit. The orientation sensor 17 is a sensor fordetecting the direction of the geomagnetism. According to the presentembodiment, an element obtained by projecting the orientation of thesmartphone 1 on a plane parallel to the ground refers to the orientationinformation obtained by the orientation sensor 17. The orientationinformation obtained by the orientation sensor 17 indicates theorientation of the smartphone 1. The orientation of the smartphone 1 maybe obtained as directional information of 0 to 360 degrees. For example,the orientation information indicates 0 degree when the smartphone 1 isfacing north, 90 degrees when the smartphone 1 is facing west, 180degrees when the smartphone 1 is facing south, and 270 degrees when thesmartphone 1 is facing west. According to the present embodiment, thecross-section of a measurement object parallel to the ground allows theorientation sensor 17 to obtain the orientation information moreaccurately. According to the present embodiment, since the object is theabdomen, the measurement is preferably carried out while a subjectperson is standing up.

The orientation sensor 17 outputs a direction of the geomagnetism thatis detected. For example, when the direction of the geomagnetism isoutput as the motion factor, the controller 10 may use the motion factoras the control factor reflecting the orientation of the smartphone 1.For example, when a change in the direction of the geomagnetism isoutput as the motion factor, the controller 10 may carry out theprocessing by using the motion factor as the control factor reflectingthe change in the orientation of the smartphone 1.

Also, the angular velocity sensor 18 may be used as the first sensorunit. The angular velocity sensor 18 detects an angular velocity of thesmartphone 1. The angular velocity sensor 18 may obtain the angularvelocity of the smartphone 1 as the directional information. Thecontroller 10, by carrying out time integration of the obtained angularvelocity one time, calculates the orientation of the smartphone 1. Thecalculated orientation of the smartphone 1 corresponds to a relativeangle based on an initial value at start of the measurement.

The angular velocity sensor 18 outputs the angular velocity that isdetected. For example, when a direction of the angular velocity isoutput as the motion factor, the controller 10 may use the motion factoras the control factor reflecting a rotational direction of thesmartphone 1. For example, when the angular velocity is output, thecontroller 10 may carry out the processing by using the motion factor asthe control factor reflecting a rotation amount of the smartphone 1.

Also, the inclination sensor 19 may be used as the first sensor. Theinclination sensor 19 detects gravitational acceleration acting on thesmartphone 1. For example, the inclination sensor 19 may obtain thegravitational acceleration of the smartphone 1 as the orientationinformation. For example, the smartphone 1, through the inclinationsensor 19, may obtain the orientation information of −9.8 to 9.8[m/sec²]. For example, the orientation information of 9.8 [m/sec²] isobtained when a y-axis direction of the smartphone 1 illustrated in FIG.1 corresponds to a gravity direction, and the orientation information of−9.8 [m/sec²] is obtained when the y-axis direction opposes to thegravity direction. Also, when the y-axis direction is perpendicular tothe gravity direction, the orientation information of 0 [m/sec²] isobtained. According to the present embodiment, the cross-section of themeasurement object perpendicular to the ground allows the inclinationsensor 19 to obtain the orientation information more accurately. Whenthe object is the abdomen, the measurement is preferably carried outwhile the subject person is lying.

The inclination sensor 19 outputs an inclination that is detected. Forexample, when an inclination with respect to the gravity direction isoutput as the motion factor, the controller 10 may carry out theprocessing by using the motion factor as the control factor reflectingthe orientation of the smartphone 1.

The controller 10 may calculate the orientation from the orientationinformation of the smartphone 1. For example, the angular velocitysensor 18 described above obtains the angular velocity as theorientation information. Based on the obtained angular velocity, thecontroller 10 calculates the orientation of the smartphone 1. Forexample, the inclination sensor 19 described above obtains thegravitational acceleration as the orientation information. Based on theobtained gravitational acceleration, the controller 10 calculates theorientation of the smartphone 1 with respect to the gravity direction.

The first sensor unit may use a combination of the motion sensorsdescribed above. Processing a combination of the orientation informationfrom a plurality of motion sensors allows the controller 10 to calculatethe orientation of the smartphone 1 itself more accurately.

According to the present embodiment, the device unit for obtaining themotion information of the smartphone 1 itself serves as the secondsensor unit. The second sensor unit obtains the motion information ofthe smartphone 1 itself. The motion information of the smartphone 1refers to information output from the second sensor unit. The motioninformation of the smartphone 1 refers to information associated with amoving amount of the smartphone 1. The motion information of thesmartphone 1 includes, for example, acceleration, speed, and the movingamount.

The moving amount of the smartphone 1 according to the presentembodiment refers to a moving amount of a reference position of thehousing 20 of the smartphone 1. The reference position of the housing 20may locate anywhere as long as detectable by the second sensor unit andmay locate, for example, on a surface of the side face 1C1.

According to the present embodiment, the acceleration sensor 16 is usedas the second sensor. The acceleration sensor 16 is a sensor fordetecting acceleration acting on the smartphone 1. The accelerationsensor 16 may obtain the acceleration of the smartphone 1 as the motioninformation. The controller 10, by carrying out the time integration ofthe obtained acceleration two times, calculates the moving amount of thesmartphone 1.

The acceleration sensor 16 outputs the acceleration that is detected.For example, when a direction of the acceleration is output, thecontroller 10 may carry out the processing by using the direction of theacceleration as the control factor reflecting a moving direction of thesmartphone 1. For example, when the acceleration is output, thecontroller 10 may use the acceleration as the control factor reflectinga moving speed and the moving amount of the smartphone 1.

The controller 10 calculates the cross-sectional outline of the object.The cross-sectional outline of the object is calculated based on theorientation information and the motion information obtained by the firstsensor unit and the second sensor unit. In some cases, the controller 10may calculate the orientation and the moving amount in the course of thecalculation.

Each of the motion sensors 15 described above are capable of detectingthe motion factors in three axial directions. The three axial directionsdetected by the motion sensors 15 according to the present embodimentare substantially orthogonal to one another. An x-direction, ay-direction and a z-direction illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 correspond tothe three axial directions of the motion sensors 15. The three axialdirections do not need to be orthogonal to one another. The motionsensor 15 for detecting the three axial directions that are notorthogonal to one another may calculate a motion factor of threedirections that are orthogonal to one another. Each of the motionsensors may have a different reference direction. According to thepresent embodiment, each of the motion sensors does not need to detectthree axial directions. The controller 10, based on the orientationinformation of one axial direction and the moving information of oneaxial direction, may calculate the cross-sectional outline.

The first sensor unit and the second sensor unit may use any one of themotion sensors 15 described above or others.

Some or all of the programs stored in the storage 9 as illustrated inFIG. 4 may be downloaded from another apparatus via the radiocommunication carried out by the communication unit 6. Or, some or allof the programs stored in the storage 9 as illustrated in FIG. 4 may bestored in a storage medium readable by the storage medium readerincluded in the storage 9. Or, some or all of the programs stored in thestorage 9 as illustrated in FIG. 4 may be stored in a storage mediumreadable by a storage medium reader connected to the connector 14. Thestorage medium may be, for example, a flash memory, HDD (registeredtrademark) (Hard Disc Drive), CD (Compact Disc), DVD (registeredtrademark) (Digital Versatile Disc), and BD (Blu-ray (registeredtrademark) Disc).

A structure of the smartphone 1 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4 by way ofexample only and may be appropriately changed within a range that doesnot impair the gist of the present invention. For example, the numberand the type of the button 3 are not limited to the example illustratedin FIG. 1. For example, the smartphone 1, as a button for operationsassociated with a display, may be provided with a button of a numerickeypad or a QWERTY sequence in place of the buttons 3A to 3C.Alternatively, the smartphone 1 may be provided with one button for theoperation associated with the display, or no buttons at all. Althoughthe smartphone 1 of the example illustrated in FIG. 4 is provided withtwo cameras, the smartphone 1 may have only one camera, or no camera atall. Also, the illuminance sensor 4 and the proximity sensor 5 may beconstituted by using one sensor. Although in the example illustrated inFIG. 4 the smartphone 1 includes four types of sensors in order toobtain the orientation information and the motion information of thesmartphone 1 itself, the smartphone 1 may have only some of the sensorsor other types of sensors.

Next, referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, measurement of the abdominalcross-sectional outline by the smartphone 1 according to the presentembodiment will be described.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating the measurement of the abdominalcross-sectional outline according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the measurement of the abdominalcross-sectional outline according to the present embodiment.

At step S101, the user initiates the measurement application 9Z formeasuring the cross-sectional outline. At step S102, next, themeasurement starts. At the start of the measurement, the smartphone 1 isheld against a surface of an abdomen 60 in any position on the abdomenfor measurement of the cross-sectional outline. According to the presentembodiment, the cross-sectional outline at the height of the user'snavel (an A-A position in FIG. 5) is measured. Within a range that doesnot hinder the measurement of the cross-sectional outline, thesmartphone 1 may directly, or via clothing, contact the surface of theabdomen 60. The measurement may start at any position on the A-Aposition of the abdomen upon a starting action preset to the smartphone1. The starting action may be pressing any one of the buttons 3 of thesmartphone 1, or tapping a certain position on the touchscreen 2B. Theplane of the smartphone 1 contacting the surface of the abdomen may beany one of the front face 1A, the rear face 1B, and the side faces 1C1to 1C4. In consideration of operability, however, the rear face 1B isused as the plane contacting the surface of the abdomen according to thepresent embodiment.

At step S103, the user moves the smartphone 1 along the A-A position onthe surface of the abdomen 60 and makes the circuit of the abdomen 60.Here, the smartphone 1 is moved at a constant speed while contacting thesurface of the abdomen 60. Accordingly, each of the information may beobtained at constant intervals, and accuracy in the measurement of theoutline is improved.

At step S103, under pre-programed conditions, the orientation sensor 17obtains the orientation information, and the acceleration sensor 16obtains the motion information. The orientation information and themotion information are obtained for a plurality of times. Theorientation information and the motion information are obtainedaccording to the crock signal output from the timer 11. Depending on asize and complexity of the cross-section of the measurement object, theinterval to obtain each information is appropriately selected. Theinterval to obtain the information is appropriately selected from, forexample, sampling frequencies of 5 to 60 Hz. The orientation informationand the motion information that are obtained are temporality stored within the smartphone 1. This measurement is continually executed from thestart at step S102 to an end at step S104.

The user, when the smartphone 1 has made the circuit of the abdomen 60while contacting the surface thereof, carries out an ending actionpreset to the smartphone 1 and thereby ends the measurement (step S104).The ending action may be pressing any one of the buttons 3 of thesmartphone 1 or tapping a certain position on the touchscreen 2B. Or,when the orientation information obtained by the orientation sensor 17of the smartphone 1 corresponds to the orientation information at thestart of the measurement, or when the orientation information haschanged by 360 degrees from the orientation information at the start ofthe measurement, the smartphone 1 may automatically recognize that thesmartphone 1 has made the circuit of the abdomen 60 and end themeasurement. When the smartphone 1 carries out such automaticrecognition, the user does not need to carry out the ending action, andthereby the measurement is more simplified.

The smartphone 1, at step S105, calculates the orientation informationand the motion information obtained at step S103. Those calculations arecarried out by the controller 10. The controller 10 calculates theabdominal cross-sectional outline and an abdominal circumference of theuser. The calculations carried out at step S105 will be described indetail below.

The smartphone 1, at step S106, outputs results of the calculationscarried out at step S105. The output of the results of the calculationtakes a variety of manners such as, for example, to be displayed on thedisplay 2A, to be transmitted to a server, and the like. The smartphone1 ends the flow when finishing outputting the results of thecalculations of the abdominal cross-sectional outline and the abdominalcircumference.

According to the present embodiment, the smartphone 1 is moved in they-axis direction while the rear face 1B is contacting the abdomen. Insuch a case, the orientation sensor 17 may be a one-axis sensor capableof measuring the orientation of the smartphone 1 in the y-axisdirection. The acceleration sensor 16 may be a one-axis sensor capableof measuring the moving amount of the smartphone 1 in the y-axisdirection.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9, the method of calculating thecross-sectional outline will be described by using the smartphone 1 asan example.

FIG. 7 illustrate examples of the direction and the moving amountaccording to the present embodiment.

Horizontal axes in FIGS. 7A and 7B represent time for the start of themeasurement to the end of the measurement. The time is counted accordingto the clock signal output by the timer 11. When the abdominalcircumference is measured in Tn seconds, it means that the measurementstarts at 0 second and ends at Tn seconds. The smartphone 1, between 0to Tn seconds, obtains the orientation information and the movinginformation at predetermined intervals.

In FIG. 7A, the horizontal axis represents the time, and a vertical axisrepresents the orientation of the smartphone 1. The orientation of thesmartphone 1 represented by the horizontal axis corresponds to theorientation information obtained by the orientation sensor 17. Accordingto the present embodiment employing the orientation sensor 17 as thefirst sensor unit, the orientation information represents theorientation of the smartphone 1. The orientation of the smartphone 1 isrepresented by an angle at 0 to 360 degrees. When the orientation of thesmartphone 1 has changed by 360 degrees from an original angle thereofat the start of the measurement, it is determined that the smartphone 1has made the circuit of the abdomen. According to the presentembodiment, for simplification, the original angle at the start of themeasurement is set to 0 degree, and thus the angle after the smartphone1 has made the circuit of the abdomen is at 360 degrees.

In FIG. 7B, the horizontal axis represents the time, and the verticalaxis represents the moving amount of the smartphone 1. The moving amountof the smartphone 1 represented by the vertical axis is calculated basedon the motion information obtained by the acceleration sensor 16. Themotion information of the smartphone 1 according to the presentembodiment refers to acceleration data obtained by the accelerationsensor 16. The moving amount is calculated by the controller 10 bycarrying out the time integration of the acceleration data two times.When the acceleration data have a large noise, digital filter processingmay be carried out. As a digital filter, there are a low-pass filter, aband pass filter and the like. The moving amount of the smartphone 1 atthe end of the measurement corresponds to a circumference of themeasurement object, which is the abdominal circumference according tothe present embodiment. Preferably, the abdominal circumference iscalculated in consideration of a position of the acceleration sensor 16within the smartphone 1. According to the present embodiment, that is,the moving amount is preliminarily corrected in consideration of adistance between the rear face 1B, which is the plane brought intocontact with the surface of the abdomen 60, and the acceleration sensor16. Thereby, the abdominal circumference is calculated accurately.

Although according to the present embodiment the orientation and themoving amount are measured at the same time Tn, the orientation and themoving amount may be measured at different times Ta and Tb,respectively. In this case, preferably, the horizontal axis in FIG. 7Auses a standardized time 0-1 standardized by Ta while the horizontalaxis in FIG. 7B uses a standardized time 0-1 standardized by Tb, and thehorizontal axes in FIGS. 7A and 7B have the same values.

FIG. 8 is exemplary records made up of the obtained information.

The start of the measurement is represented by a record number R0, andthe end of the measurement is represented by a record number Rn. Eachrecord includes a combination of the orientation information and themotion information corresponding to the time. Each record also includesthe moving amount calculated based on the motion information. Accordingto the present embodiment employing the orientation sensor, theorientation information represents the orientation of the smartphone 1.The orientation and the moving amount calculated based on thecombination of the orientation information and the motion informationcorrespond to information obtained at the same time in FIGS. 7A and 7B,or information obtained at the same standardized time. Intervals betweenthe times of the records does not need to be equal. Also, although eachrecord preferably includes the information obtained at the same timefrom the viewpoint of the accuracy of the measurement of thecross-sectional outline, a small time difference may be allowed. Whenthere is a time difference, the controller 10 may ignore the timedifference, or calculate information corresponding to another time fromone record.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the calculated cross-sectional outline.

Plotting from the obtained record R0 to the record Rn in order accordingto the orientation and the moving amount allows calculation of thecross-sectional outline of the object. To aid in understanding, the R0to the Rn in the figure represent corresponding record numbers. Also,each dots on the solid line represents a position of each of therecords. Although the solid line has more dots in practice, some of thedots are omitted for the purpose of clarity of the figure.

The calculation of the cross-sectional outline is carried out asfollows. First, the R0 is set to any point. Next, the position of the R1is calculated from the change in the moving amount between the record R0and the record R1 and the orientation information of the record R1.Then, a position of R2 is calculated from the change in the movingamount between the record R1 and the record R2 and the orientationinformation of the record R2. This calculation is carried out to Rn, andthe position of R0 to a position of Rn is connected in order. Therebythe cross-sectional outline of the object is calculated and displayed.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating correction of the calculatedcross-sectional outline.

The orientation sensor and the acceleration sensor have a measurementerror. As a result, the motion of the smartphone 1 may deviate from theA-A position, and the cross-sectional outline as indicated by a dottedline in FIG. 10 is calculated. This result of the calculation of thecross-sectional outline is inaccurate because R0 as a measurement startpoint and Rn as a measurement end point do not meet each other. In thiscase, offset is carried out such that the measurement start point R0 andthe measurement end point Rn meet each other, thereby correcting theerror. Further, to each of the records between the measurement startpoint R0 and the measurement end point Rn, small offset is carried outas correction.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating correction by using the actualmeasured value according to the present embodiment.

Although in the above embodiment calculation of the cross-sectionaloutline uses the motion information obtained by the acceleration sensor16, when an actual measured value of the circumference of the objectpreliminarily measured by another means is available, thecross-sectional outline may be calculated more accurately. In FIG. 11,the horizontal axis and the vertical axis represent the time and themoving amount, respectively. In the figure, the dotted line representsthe moving amount calculated based on the motion information obtained bythe acceleration sensor 16. The moving amount at the end of themeasurement corresponds to the circumference of the measurement object,which is the abdominal circumference. The moving amount at the end ofthe measurement is corrected to meet the actual measured value of theabdomen preliminarily measured by means of a tape measure or the like.In particular, a correction amount ΔW illustrated in FIG. 11 is offset,and then an inclination of a graph is corrected according to the ΔW thathas been offset. A solid line represents corrected data. By using therecord of the corrected data represented by the solid line, thecontroller 10 calculates the cross-sectional outline of the object.

Next, correction of the inclination of the calculated cross-sectionaloutline and the position that are calculated will be described. When theorientation of the smartphone 1 at the start of the measurement is setto 0 degree, an axis of symmetry of the calculated cross-sectionaloutline may be inclined. As for the abdominal cross-sectional outline,for example, it may be wished to correct the inclination and display theabdomen or the back facing the Y-axis direction in FIG. 9. In order tocorrect the inclination with respect to coordinate axes illustrated inFIG. 9, the cross-sectional outline may be rotated so as to minimize ormaximize a width of the cross-sectional outline in the X-axis directionor a width of the cross-sectional outline in the Y-axis direction.

Also, when a position coordinate of the smartphone 1 at the start of themeasurement locates at an XY origin in FIG. 9, the calculatedcross-sectional outline is displayed being displaced from the center.Correction of such a displacement of the abdominal cross-sectionaloutline may be wished so as to display the XY origin of FIG. 9 and thecenter of the abdominal cross-sectional outline that are meeting eachother. For correction of the position, an intersection of a center lineof the width of the cross-sectional outline in the X-axis direction anda center line of the width of the cross-sectional outline in the Y-axisdirection is moved to the XY origin.

As described above, the apparatus of the present embodiment may measurethe cross-sectional outline of the object by using the sensorsintegrated in the smartphone 1. The smartphone 1 is smaller thanmeasurement equipments such as CT. The smartphone 1 may measure thecross-sectional outline in a short time. Also, the smartphone 1 allowsthe user to measure himself/herself in a simple manner. Also, thesmartphone 1, unlike the equipments such as the CT and the like, may beeasily carried. Also, the smartphone 1 allows the user to store the dataand thereby facilitates viewing a daily change. Further, the smartphone1 involves a less risk of radiation exposure during measurement.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating the electronic tape measureaccording to the present embodiment.

The electronic tape measure functions to measure a length of the tapethat is pulled out and obtain data, thereby obtaining the motioninformation in a manner similar to the acceleration sensor. Theelectronic tape measure may be built in the smartphone 1.

An electronic tape measure 71 includes a housing 70. A front face 71A ofthe housing 70 includes a touchscreen display 72. A side face 71C2 ofthe housing 70 includes a tape measure 73. The tape measure 73 isprovided with scales. The tape measure 73 is normally wound inside thehousing 70. The tape measure 73 is provided with a stopper 74 at aleading end thereof. Before measurement, the stopper 74 is placedoutside the housing 70 having a B plane of the stopper 74 and the sideface 71C2 in contact with each other. In order to measure the object,the stopper 74 is pulled in a direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. 12in such a manner to pull out the tape measure 73 from the housing 70. Atthis time, an amount X of the tape measure 73 drawn out from the sideface 71C2 as a reference is digitally displayed in the touchscreendisplay 72. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 12, the amount X is5.00 cm.

When the electronic tape measure 71 is used as the second sensor unit ofthe smartphone 1 of the present embodiment, a measurement process and acalculation of the cross-sectional outline conform to those describedwith reference to FIGS. 5 to 9. The following is a description of themeasurement process using the electronic tape measure. At start of themeasurement at step S102, the housing 70 is brought into contact withthe surface of the abdomen. At step S103, while maintaining the stopper74 at a measurement start position, the user moves the housing 70 alongthe A-A position on the surface of the abdomen 60 and makes the circuitof the abdomen 60. When the side face 71C2 and the B plane of thestopper 74 meet each other, the measurement ends (step S104).

When the acceleration sensor is used as the second sensor unit, theacceleration is obtained as the motion information. In contrast, whenthe electronic tape measure is used as the second sensor unit, themoving amount may be directly obtained as the motion information,thereby allowing more accurate measurement of the abdominalcircumference.

Next, an example of classification of the calculated abdominalcross-sectional outline will be described.

FIG. 13 is an example of the classification of the cross-sectionalabdominal outline according to the present embodiment.

The smartphone 1 preliminarily stores the classification of theabdominal cross-sectional outline. The classification of the abdominalcross-sectional outline illustrated in FIG. 13 includes (a) visceralobesity type, (b) subcutaneous fat type, and (c) normal type. The user,based on an aspect ratio of the measured abdominal cross-sectionaloutline (d2/d1 in FIG. 13), is classified into one of the above (a) to(c). For example, the user with the aspect ratio of 0.8 or more isclassified into the (a) visceral obesity type, while the user with theaspect ratio of 0.6 to 0.8 (exclusive of 0.8) is classified into the (b)subcutaneous fat type, and the user with the aspect ratio of less than0.6 is classified into the (c) normal type. In this case, after stepS106 of the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 6, a step S107 for“Classification” is added. According to further detailedclassifications, the user may obtain determination and advice.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of thesmartphone 1 according to a second embodiment.

According to the present embodiment, the timer 11 and the control unit10A are included in the controller 10. The timer 11 serves as the deviceunit for obtaining the motion information of the smartphone 1. The timer11, upon reception of an instruction to operate the timer from thecontrol unit 10A, outputs the clock signal. The orientation sensor 17,according to the clock signal output from the timer 11, obtains theorientation information for a plurality of times. The orientationinformation obtained according to the clock signal is temporality storedin the smartphone 1 together with clock information. Here, the clockinformation refers to information representing time of obtainment of theorientation information. For example, when periodical clock signals areused, the clock information may indicate a record number representing anobtainment order. The clock information may indicate the time ofobtainment of the orientation information. According to the presentembodiment, the timer 11 is included in the controller 10, and a timercircuit serving as a functional part of the controller 10 may be used asthe timer 11. Further, the present invention is not limited thereto but,as described above with reference to FIG. 4, the timer 11 may beprovided outside the controller 10.

The control unit 10A estimates the motion information of the smartphone1 from the clock information. The motion information of the smartphone 1refers to information associated with the moving amount of thesmartphone 1, and is the moving amount according to the presentembodiment. The control unit 10A, based on the orientation informationand the motion information, calculates the cross-sectional outline ofthe object. Hereinafter, features of the present embodiment differentfrom those of the first embodiment will be described, omitting featuresof the present embodiment the same as those of the first embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of the measurement of the abdominalcross-sectional outline according to the second embodiment.

At step S101, the user activates the measurement application 9Z for themeasurement of the cross-sectional outline. After the measurementapplication 9Z is activated, the user inputs the actual measured valueof the abdominal circumference measured by the tape measure and the liketo the smartphone 1 (step S111). Or, from user information preliminarilystored in the storage 9 of the smartphone 1, the actual measured valueof the abdominal circumference may be retrieved. Note that the actualmeasured value of the abdominal circumference does not need to be inputbefore the start of the measurement (step S102) but may be input afterthe end of the measurement (step S104).

Next, the measurement starts at step S102. At the start of themeasurement, the smartphone 1 is brought into contact with the surfaceof the abdomen 60 at any position of the abdomen for measurement of thecross-sectional outline. The present embodiment illustrates themeasurement of the cross-sectional outline at the height of the naval ofthe user (the A-A position in FIG. 5). The measurement may start fromany position on the A-A position upon the starting action preset to thesmartphone 1. At step S103, the user moves the smartphone 1 along theA-A position on the surface of the abdomen 60. The smartphone 1 is movedat a constant speed while contacting the surface of the abdomen 60. Toaid the user to move the smartphone at a constant speed, an auxiliarydevice for assisting the movement of the smartphone may be used. Or, thesmartphone 1 may output an auxiliary sound at a constant speed foraiding the movement.

At step S103, the smartphone 1, under the pre-programed conditions,obtains the orientation information by using the orientation sensor 17.The orientation information is obtained for a plurality of timesaccording to the clock signal output from the timer 11. The orientationinformation obtained according to the clock signal is stored in thesmartphone 1 together with the clock information. The measurement iscontinually executed from the start at step S102 to the end at stepS104.

The user, while maintaining the contact of the smartphone 1 to thesurface of the abdomen 60, moves the smartphone 1 at a constant speed tomake at least the circuit of the abdomen 60. Then, the user carries outthe ending action preset to the smartphone 1 and thus ends themeasurement (step S104). Or, when the orientation information obtainedby the orientation sensor 17 of the smartphone 1 corresponds to theorientation information at the start of the measurement, the smartphone1 may automatically recognize that the smartphone 1 has made the circuitof the abdomen 60 and end the measurement. Or, when the orientationinformation has changed by 360 degrees from the orientation informationat the start of the measurement, the smartphone 1 may automaticallyrecognize that the smartphone 1 has made the circuit of the abdomen 60and end the measurement. When the smartphone 1 carries out suchautomatic recognition, the user does not need to carry out the endingaction, and thereby the measurement is more simplified.

At step S105, the control unit 10A, from the actual measured value ofthe user's abdominal circumference and the clock information obtained atstep S103, estimates the moving amount as the motion information of thesmartphone 1. Since the moving amount of the smartphone 1 when thesmartphone 1 has made the circuit of the user's abdomen is equal to theactual measured value of the abdominal circumference input at step S111and, also, the smartphone 1 is considered to move at a constant speed,the moving amount as the motion information of the smartphone 1 may becalculated. The control unit 10A, based on the obtained orientationinformation and the calculated motion information, calculates thecross-sectional outline of the object.

The smartphone 1, at step S106, outputs the result of the calculationcarried out at step S105. The smartphone 1, after finishing the outputof the results of the calculations of the abdominal cross-sectionaloutline and the abdominal circumference, ends the flow. Note that otherprocessing, which detailed descriptions are omitted in the flow of thepresent embodiment, conform to the processing described with referenceto FIG. 6.

FIG. 16 is exemplary records of the obtained information according tothe second embodiment.

The record number at the start of the measurement is set to R0, and therecord number at the end of the measurement is set to Rn. For each ofthe records, a combination of the orientation information and the motioninformation corresponding to the time is stored. The motion informationcorresponds to the moving amount estimated from the record number (orthe time) as the clock information. As the motion information of therecord number Rn, the actual measured value of the user's abdominalcircumference is stored. Since time intervals of each of the records areequal to one another and, also, the smartphone 1 is considered to moveat a constant speed, the time intervals between each of the movingamount as the motion information are equal to one another as well. Therecords thus obtained are displayed as a diagram illustrating thecross-sectional outline.

Plotting from the record R0 to the record Rn that are obtained on the XYcoordinate in order according to the orientation and the moving amountallows the calculation of the cross-sectional outline of the object.According to the present embodiment, on the calculated cross-sectionaloutline illustrated in FIG. 9, each of the plot points are positionedequally spaced apart. During the measurement, when the smartphone 1 ismoved at a constant speed, the calculated cross-sectional outline formsa shape symmetrical to the Y-axis. During the measurement, when thesmartphone 1 does not move at a constant speed, the calculatedcross-sectional outline forms an irregular shape asymmetric to theY-axis. When the shape of the calculated cross-sectional outline isgreatly asymmetric, the smartphone 1 may display a message urgingre-measurement at a constant speed. A magnitude of the asymmetry may bedetermined based on a difference of the plot points in each regionseparated by the Y-axis in FIG. 9. For example, when the difference ofthe plot points is other than ±10%, it is determined that thecross-sectional outline is greatly asymmetric. A method of thedetermination of the magnitude of the asymmetry is not limited theretobut the magnitude may be determined by, for example, calculating areassurrounded by the cross-sectional outline and comparing sizes of theareas. Also, a determination criteria may be appropriately set.

According to the present embodiment, as described above, since the timeris used as the device unit for obtaining the motion information of thesmartphone 1 itself, the motion information may be obtained withoutusing the second sensor unit. Therefore, the number of components of thesmartphone 1 of the present embodiment may be reduced. Further, thesmartphone 1 of the present embodiment allows a reduction in ameasurement error due to inaccuracy of the second sensor unit.

Third Embodiment

According to a third embodiment, from a portion of the cross-sectionaloutline that is calculated, the visceral fat area and the subcutaneousfat area are estimated. Further, based on those estimated values, animage of the abdominal cross-section is displayed in the smartphone 1.The smartphone 1 according to the present embodiment may have theconfiguration illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 14 the same asthe second embodiment. Hereinafter, features of the third embodimentdifferent from the features of the first and second embodiments will bedescribed, omitting features the same as those of the first and secondembodiments.

The storage 9 stores a visceral fat area estimation equation and asubcutaneous fat area estimation equation that are preliminarilycreated. The storage 9 also stores a plurality of images of theabdominal cross-section. Those images of the abdominal cross-section areclassified based on a combination of the visceral fat area and thesubcutaneous fat area. The control unit 10A calculates a portion of thecross-sectional outline of the object and extracts a characteristiccoefficient thereof. The control unit 10A retrieves the visceral fatarea estimation equation and the subcutaneous fat area estimationequation stored in the storage 9 and, from the extracted characteristiccoefficient of the outline, estimates the visceral fat area and thesubcutaneous fat area. Further, the control unit 10A extracts one of theplurality of images of the abdominal cross-section stored in the storage9 and controls the display 2A to display the extracted image.

Although the storage 9 and the control unit 10A of the smartphone 1 areused for the operation according to the present embodiment, the presentinvention is not limited thereto. A storage and a control unit installedin the server connected to a network may be used to carry out a part of,or all of the operation described above.

According to the present embodiment, the angular velocity sensor 18obtains the orientation information of the smartphone 1. The timer 11operates to obtain the motion information of the smartphone 1. However,the present invention is not limited thereto but may use the orientationsensor or the inclination sensor so as to obtain the orientationinformation. Also, in order to obtain the motion information, theacceleration sensor or the electronic tape measure may be used.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation flowbefore displaying the image of the abdominal cross-section according tothe third embodiment. According to the present embodiment, as an exampleof calculation of at least a portion of the abdominal cross-sectionaloutline, calculation of the outline of an approximate semi-circumferenceportion from the naval will be described.

At step S101, the user activates the measurement application 9Z for themeasurement of the cross-sectional outline. After the measurementapplication 9Z is activated, the user inputs the actual measured valueof the abdominal circumference, which is preliminarily measured by thetape measure and the like, to the smartphone 1 (step S111). Or, theactual measured value of the abdominal circumference may be retrievedfrom the user information preliminarily stored in the storage 9 of thesmartphone 1. Note that the processing at step S111 does not need to becarried out before the start of the measurement but may be carried outafter the end of the measurement at step S104.

Next, the measurement starts at step S102. At the start of themeasurement, the smartphone 1 is brought into contact with the surfaceof the abdomen 60 at the naval position. A measurement starting positionis appropriately selected based on a portion of the abdominalcross-sectional outline to be calculated. Predetermining the measurementstarting position prevents change of a range of the outline to becalculated between users, thus reducing errors of the characteristiccoefficient of the outline described below. According to the presentembodiment, the naval position is set to be the measurement startingposition. For example, the measurement starts when the side face 1C1 ofthe smartphone 1 is brought to meet the naval position. The user carriesout the starting action preset to the smartphone 1 to start themeasurement.

At step S103, the user moves the smartphone 1 along the A-A position onthe surface of the abdomen 60. The smartphone 1 is moved at a constantspeed while contacting the surface of the abdomen 60.

At step S103, the smartphone 1, under the pre-programed conditions,obtains the angular velocity (degree/second) as the orientationinformation by using the angular velocity sensor 18. The orientationinformation is obtained for a plurality of times according to the clocksignal output from the timer 11. The orientation information obtainedaccording to the clock signal is stored in the smartphone 1 togetherwith obtainment time information. This measurement is continuallyexecuted from the start at step S102 to the end at step S104.

The user moves the smartphone 1 by at least a semi-circumference of theabdomen 60 at a constant speed while maintaining the contact of thesmartphone 1 to the surface of the abdomen 60. According to the presentembodiment, the semi-circumference represents a motion from the naval tothe center of the back. When the smartphone 1 is moved by an amountshorter than the semi-circumference, the calculation of the outlinebecomes incomplete, possibly causing an error of the characteristiccoefficient of the outline described below. Accordingly, the smartphone1 preferably has means to inform the user when the smartphone 1 hasmoved by the semi-circumference.

When the smartphone 1 is moved by at least the semi-circumference, theuser carries out the ending action preset to the smartphone 1, andthereby ends the measurement (step S104). Alternatively, provided thatthe processing at step S115 described below is executed at the sametime, the smartphone 1 may automatically recognize that the smartphone 1has moved by the semi-circumference when the orientation of thesmartphone 1 has changed by 180 degrees from the orientation at thestart of the measurement, and end the measurement. When the smartphone 1carries out such automatic recognition, the user does not need to carryout the ending action, and thereby the measurement is more simplified.

After or during the measurement, the control unit 10A calculates thesemi-circumference of the abdominal cross-sectional outline (step S115).The control unit 10A, by carrying out integration of the angularvelocity obtained at S103 one time, calculates the orientation of thesmartphone 1.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of the orientation of the smartphone 1according to the third embodiment. With reference to the figure, amethod to extract information about the semi-circumference from theobtained orientation information will be described. The horizontal axisrepresents the time; the measurement starts at 0 second and ends atT(n/2+a) seconds. Here, n represents the circumference for 360 degrees,and a represents an angle calculated by subtracting thesemi-circumference for 180 degrees from the orientation at the end ofthe measurement. The vertical axis represents the orientation of thesmartphone 1. A solid line in the figure represents obtainedinformation, and a dotted line represent a virtual line representingunobtained information about a rest of the circumference. A flat portionof a curved line in the figure around the orientation of 180 degrees isestimated as information about the back and, at a midpoint of the flatportion, it is determined that the smartphone 1 has passed the center ofthe back, and the semi-circumference is detected. That is, a record from0 second to T(n/2) seconds in the figure is extracted as the informationabout the semi-circumference. This method of extracting the informationabout the semi-circumference portion is described by way of exampleonly. For example, when the flat portion is displaced from 180 degrees,normalization to set the flat portion to 180 degrees may be carried out.Or, normalization may be carried out to set information about a positionwhere the orientation is displaced from the flat portion by 180 degreesto a start point. Or, instead of the midpoint of the flat portion,information about a position with a minimum inclination of the curvenear the orientation of 180 degrees may be determined as the center ofthe back.

FIG. 19 illustrates exemplary records including obtained and normalizedinformation according to the third embodiment. The start point of asemi-circumferential outline (the naval position according to thepresent embodiment) that is extracted is represented by the recordnumber R0, an end point of the semi-circumferential outline (a record ofthe center of the back with the orientation of 180 degrees according tothe present embodiment) is represented by the record R (n/2), and lastacquired information is represented by record R (n/2+a). Each recordstores a combination of the orientation information and the motioninformation. The motion information refers to the moving amountestimated from the record number (or the time) as the clock information.According to the present embodiment, the record of the orientation of 0to 180 degrees is extracted as information about the semi-circumference.As the motion information of the record number R(n/2), a value of a halfof the actual measured value of the user's abdominal circumference isstored. Since the intervals of each of the records are equal to oneanother and the smartphone 1 is considered to move at a constant speed,each of the moving amounts as the motion information are at equalintervals as well. The record thus obtained is shown in a table showingthe semi-circumferential outline of the cross-section. Plotting theobtained record R0 to the record R (2/n) in order on the XY coordinateaccording to the orientation and the moving amount allows thecalculation of the semi-circumference of the cross-sectional outline ofthe object. Note that step S115 may be executed in parallel with stepS103.

The smartphone 1, at step S116, corrects the result of the calculationcarried out at the step S115. This correction is pre-processing ofextraction of the characteristic coefficient of the outline executed atthe next step S117. The characteristic coefficient of the outlinefluctuates depending on the orientation and the position of the outlineon any XY coordinate system. According to the present embodiment, theorientation of the outline refers to an orientation of the axis ofsymmetry described below, and the position of the outline refers to aposition of the midpoint described below. By correcting the orientation,position and the like of the outline, a fluctuation in thecharacteristic coefficient of the outline caused based on measurementconditions may be reduced. The correction of the orientation and theposition of the outline may be easily carried out for thesemi-circumference of the calculated cross-sectional outline, based onan inverting closed curve replicated on a line serving as the axis ofsymmetry, which is connecting the start point (the naval positionaccording to the present embodiment) and the end point (the center ofthe back according to the present embodiment). In order to correct theorientation of the outline, the inverting closed curve is rotated suchthat the axis of symmetry thereof (the line connecting the naval and thecenter of the back) faces a predetermined direction. In order to correctthe position of the outline, the inverting closed curve is moved suchthat a midpoint thereof meets the origin of the coordinate system. Theorientation and the position of the outline may be corrected byconventionally known methods.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating the cross-sectional outline that iscalculated and corrected according to the third embodiment. In thefigure, a solid line represents the semi-circumference of thecross-sectional outline that is calculated, and a dotted line representsan imaginary curve obtained by inverting the semi-circumference of thecalculated cross-sectional outline with respect to the axis of symmetry.Black dots represent the obtained records plotted on the XY coordinate.

The smartphone 1, after correction at step S116, extracts thecharacteristic coefficient of the semi-circumference of thecross-sectional outline (step S117). As a method of extractingcharacteristics of a shape of the curve, there is a method to obtain acurvature function and the like. According to the present embodiment,however, a method using Fourier analysis will be described. By using theFourier analysis to the curve of the semi-circumference of thecross-sectional outline or to the inverting closed curve, Fouriercoefficient may be obtained. As is well known, the Fourier coefficientof each order obtained by the Fourier analysis to the curve is used as acoefficient indicating characteristics of a shape. Which order ofFourier coefficients is set as the characteristic coefficient isdetermined at the time of creation of each estimation equation describedin detail below. According to the present embodiment, Fouriercoefficients Sa₁, Sa₂, Sa₃, and Sa₄ those having influence on thevisceral fat area are extracted as the characteristic coefficients ofthe visceral fat area. Also, Fourier coefficients Sb₁, Sb₂, Sb₃, and Sb₄those having influence on the subcutaneous fat area are extracted as thecharacteristic coefficients of the subcutaneous fat area. Whenindependent variables of the estimation equation are used as principalcomponents in creation of each of the estimation equations, theprincipal components may be extracted as the characteristiccoefficients.

The smartphone 1 assigns the characteristic coefficients Sa₁ to Sa₄ andSb₁ to Sb₄ to the visceral fat area estimation equation and thesubcutaneous fat area estimation equation that are determined inadvance, and thereby estimates a visceral fat area A and a subcutaneousfat area B of the user (step S118). Examples of the visceral fat areaestimation equation and the subcutaneous fat area estimation equationare shown below as Formula 1 and Formula 2, respectively.A=−483.8+46.2×Sa ₁−13.6×Sa ₂+36.8×Sa ₃+43.2×Sa ₄  [Formula 1]B=−280.0+41.6×Sb ₁−24.9×Sb ₂+16.6×Sb ₃−40.0×Sb ₄  [Formula 2]

Creation methods of the visceral fat area estimation equation and thesubcutaneous fat area estimation equation will be described in detailbelow.

Next, the smartphone 1, based on the visceral fat area A and thesubcutaneous fat area B estimated at step S118, selects an image havinga highest similarity to the user's abdominal cross-section (step S119).

FIG. 21 illustrates an example of a classification table of the image ofthe abdominal cross-section according to the third embodiment. Thesmartphone 1 preliminarily stores the classification table illustratedin FIG. 21. According to the present embodiment, the smartphone 1 stores25 types of images (P11 to P55) with different visceral fat areas andsubcutaneous fat areas. The 25 types of images may be CT images of theabdomen, pictures schematizing those CT images, or marks. From the 25types of images, one image corresponding to user's estimated visceralfat area A and subcutaneous fat area B is selected.

The selected image is displayed in the display 2A of the smartphone 1(step S110).

Although in the third embodiment of the present invention all of thesteps are carried out by the smartphone 1, the present invention is notlimited thereto, but the server connected via the network and the likemay execute at least some of the steps. For example, the steps S102 toS104 for measurement and the step S110 for display may be executed bythe smartphone 1, while other steps may be executed by the serverconnected via the network. When the server executes complicatedcalculations, a speed of the processing from the start to the end may beincreased.

According to the third embodiment, also, since the image is displayed, auser's storage state of the visceral fat and the subcutaneous fat may beclearly shown without the necessity to conduct the CT of the abdomen.When the CT image of the abdomen is displayed, the user's estimatedabdominal cross-sectional shape may be visualized more realistically,which may be effectively used for guidance of the MS. Also, displayingvalues of the visceral fat area and the subcutaneous fat area togetherwith the image may inform the user of the user's storage state of thevisceral fat and the subcutaneous fat in more detailed manner.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart for creation of the visceral fat area estimationequation and the subcutaneous fat area estimation equation according tothe third embodiment. With reference to FIG. 22, a process to createFormula 1 and Formula 2 will be described. Note that these estimationequations do not need to be created on the smartphone 1 but may bepreliminarily calculated by using other computers and the like. Sincethe estimation equations are preliminarily created and incorporated inthe application, the user does not need to directly create or change theestimation equations.

At step S121, a creator executes creation of the estimation equations.At step S122, the creator inputs preliminarily obtained sample data of apredetermined number of people into the computer. The sample data referto data obtained from the predetermined number of sample subjects. Thesample data of one sample subject includes at least the visceral fatarea and the subcutaneous fat area that are obtained by the CT, theabdominal circumference measured by the tape measure and the like, andthe orientation information and the motion information obtained by thesmartphone 1. Preferably, the predetermined number of sample subjects,for an improvement in accuracy of the estimation equations, is astatistically sufficient number and, simultaneously, is composed of agroup having a distribution similar to a visceral fat distribution ofthe subjects of MS diagnosis.

Next, from the abdominal circumference, and the orientation informationand the motion information that have been input, the computer calculatesthe semi-circumference of the cross-sectional outline (step S123).Further, the computer corrects the semi-circumference of thecross-sectional outline that is calculated (step S124). Since theprocessing at step S123 and the processing at step S124 correspond tothe processing at step S115 and the processing at step S116 describedabove, respectively, detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

Next, the Fourier analysis is carried out to the curve of thesemi-circumference of the cross-sectional outline that is corrected, orto the inverting closed curve of the cross-sectional outline (stepS125). The Fourier analysis to the curve of the cross-sectional outlineallows obtainment of a plurality of Fourier coefficients. As is wellknown, the Fourier coefficient of each order obtained by the Fourieranalysis to a curve is used as a coefficient representingcharacteristics of a shape. According to the present embodiment, theFourier analysis is carried out to the sample data of the predeterminednumber of people, thereby obtaining the Fourier coefficients of theX-axis, the Y-axis, and their 1 to k order (k represents any integer)thereof. Further, for the Fourier coefficients, a well-known principalcomponent analysis may be carried out to reduce the number of order.Note that the principal component analysis is an analytical technique toexplore common components in multivariate data (in the presentembodiment, a plurality of Fourier coefficients) and create a kind ofcomposite variable (a principal component), which allows expression ofthe characteristics of the curve with further reduced number ofvariables.

Then, by using the plurality of Fourier coefficients (or the principalcomponents) that is determined at step S125 and the visceral fat areathat is preliminarily input, a regression analysis is carried out (stepS126). The regression analysis is one of statistical methods ofexamining a relationship between a resulting value and a causing valueand thus demonstrating the relationship. Using the Fourier coefficients(or the main component) as independent variables and the visceral fatarea obtained by the CT as dependent variables, the regression analysisis carried out to the data of the predetermined number of samplesubjects, and thus the visceral fat area estimation equation is created.As for the subcutaneous fat area, a similar calculation is carries outto create the subcutaneous fat area estimation equation.

Formula 1 and Formula 2 described above are examples of the estimationequations thus created. Independent variables Sa₁, Sa₂, Sa₃, and Sa₄ arethe characteristics coefficients for estimation of the user's visceralfat area, and independent variables Sb₁, Sb₂, Sb₃, and Sb₄ are thecharacteristic coefficients for estimation of the user's subcutaneousfat area. Some or all of the characteristic coefficients of the visceralfat area estimation equation Sa₁ to Sa₄ and the characteristiccoefficients of the subcutaneous fat area estimation equation Sb₁ to Sb₄may be the same Fourier coefficients. In this way, the visceral fat areaestimation equation and the subcutaneous fat area estimation equationmay be created by the statistic methods (the principal componentanalysis, the regression analysis and the like) described above.

Note that although at step S126 the visceral fat area estimationequation and the subcutaneous fat area estimation equation are createdby carrying out the regression analysis to the visceral fat area and thesubcutaneous fat area, respectively, an abdominal cross-sectionalcircumference estimation equation may also be created in a similarmanner. That is, the regression analysis is carried out by using theplurality of Fourier coefficients (or the principal components)determined at step S125 and the abdominal circumference that ispreliminarily input. Then, by using the Fourier coefficients as theindependent variables (or the principal components) and the abdominalcircumference measured by the tape measure and the like as the dependentvariable, the regression analysis is carried out to the data of thepredetermined number of sample subjects. Thereby, the abdominalcross-sectional circumference estimation equation may be created.

As described above, since smartphone 1 of the present embodiment maymeasure the semi-circumference of the abdominal cross-sectional outlinein an easy and accurate manner, the visceral fat area and thesubcutaneous fat area may be accurately estimated in a short time.

According to the smartphone 1 of the present embodiment, also, since ahuman's abdominal cross-sectional outline is bilaterally symmetric,calculation of at least the semi-circumference of the abdominalcross-section allows estimation of the visceral fat area and thesubcutaneous fat area of the abdominal cross-section. Therefore, theuser only needs to move the smartphone 1 by a semi-circle of theabdomen, which shortens the measurement time. Also, since the necessityfor the user to pass the smartphone 1 from a hand to the other duringthe measurement is eliminated, the user may easily move the smartphone 1at a constant speed. Accordingly, the accuracy in the measurement may befurther improved.

Note that, according to the present invention, in addition to thecalculation of the semi-circumference, ¼ of a full circumference mayalso be calculated. Since the human's internal organs locate between thelumbar vertebra to the navel, the visceral fat area around the internalorgans is considered to be more related to the outline of the abdominalcross-section on a naval side. Accordingly, the visceral fat area may beestimated by calculating approximate ¼ of the full circumference fromthe naval to the flank.

For example, the calculation of ¼ of the full circumference from thenaval to the flank will be described. As for the operation flow, the“semi-circumference” in the description of the flowchart illustrated inFIG. 17 described above may be replaced with the “¼ of the fullcircumference”. For the calculation of ¼ of the full circumference atstep S115, for example, when the orientation of the smartphone 1 ischanged by 90 degrees from the start of the measurement, it isdetermined that the smartphone 1 has moved by ¼ of the fullcircumference of the abdomen, and the information is extracted. In thegraph of the orientation of the smartphone 1 illustrated in FIG. 18 asdescribed above, at the orientation of 90 degrees in the figure it isdetermined that the smartphone 1 has moved by ¼ of the fullcircumference of the abdomen, and ¼ of the full circumference isdetected. That is, a record from the 0 second to T(n/4) seconds in thefigure is extracted as information about ¼ of the full circumference. InFIG. 19 as described above, records between the orientations of 0 to 90degrees are extracted as the information about ¼ of the fullcircumference. In the exemplary records illustrated in FIG. 19, an endpoint of ¼ of the full circumference corresponds to a record R(n/4). Formotion information of the record number R(n/4), a quarter of the actualmeasured value of the user's abdominal circumference is stored. Sincethe smartphone 1 is moved at a constant speed, the moving amounts as themotion information are at equal intervals as well. Plotting from therecord R0 to the record R(n/4) thus obtained in order according to theorientation and the moving amount allows the calculation of ¼ of thefull circumference of the cross-sectional outline of the object. Thecorrection of the orientation and the position of the outline at stepS116 may be easily carried out to ¼ of the full circumference that iscalculated, based on an inverting closed curve replicated with respectto the Y-axis and the X-axis of the coordinate system as the axes ofsymmetry. Also, the estimation equations illustrated in FIG. 22 asdescribed above are created by replacing the semi-circumference with ¼of the full circumference. This method of extracting ¼ of the fullcircumference is described by way of example only; when the orientationis changed by 180 degrees at T(n/2) seconds, records for a half of thetime may be extracted as information about ¼ of the full circumference.

According to the smartphone 1 of the present embodiment, the calculationof at least ¼ of the full circumference of the cross-sectional outlineallows the estimation of the visceral fat area of the abdominalcross-section. Therefore, the user only needs to move the smartphone 1by at least ¼ of the circumference of the abdomen, which shortens themeasurement time. Also, since the necessity for the user to move thesmartphone 1 to the back during the measurement is eliminated, the usermay easily move the smartphone 1 at a constant speed. Accordingly, theaccuracy in the measurement may be further improved.

Although according to the present embodiment ¼ of the full circumferencefrom the naval to the flank is used as an example, the present inventionis not limited thereto. The subcutaneous fat area may be estimated bycalculating ¼ of the full circumference from around the flank to theback. Generally, a portion from around the flank to the back carries thesubcutaneous fat and thus an outline thereof is less influenced by thevisceral fat area. Therefore, this portion is suitably used forestimation of the subcutaneous fat.

Fourth Embodiment

According to a fourth embodiment, from a portion of the cross-sectionaloutline that is calculated, the visceral fat area, the subcutaneous fatarea, and the abdominal cross-sectional circumference are estimated.According to the present embodiment, also when a predetermined abdominaloutline (a semi-circumference portion) is not available, the visceralfat area, the subcutaneous fat area, and the abdominal cross-sectionalcircumference are estimated from information about the abdominal outlinefor 135 degrees (⅜ of a full circumference). The smartphone 1 accordingto the present embodiment may have the same configuration as the secondembodiment illustrated by the block diagram of FIG. 14. Hereinafter,features of the present embodiment different from those of the first tothird embodiments will be described, omitting features the same as thoseof the first to third embodiments.

The storage 9 in FIG. 14 stores the visceral fat area estimationequation, the subcutaneous fat area estimation equation, and theabdominal cross-sectional circumference estimation equation those arepreliminarily created. The storage 9 also stores a plurality of imagesof the abdominal cross-section. These images of the abdominalcross-section are classified based on the combination of the visceralfat area and the subcutaneous fat area. The control unit 10A calculatesa portion of the abdominal outline and extracts the characteristiccoefficient thereof. Also, the control unit 10A retrieves the visceralfat area estimation equation, the subcutaneous fat area estimationequation, and the abdominal cross-sectional circumference estimationequation those are stored in the storage 9 and estimates, from theextracted characteristic coefficient of the outline, the visceral fatarea, the subcutaneous fat area, and the abdominal cross-sectionalcircumference. Further, the control unit 10A extracts one of theplurality of images of the abdominal cross-section stored in the storage9 and controls the display 2A to display the image.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation flowbefore displaying the image of the abdominal cross-section according tothe fourth embodiment. According to the present embodiment, as anexample of the calculation of at least a portion of the abdominaloutline, an outline of an approximate semi-circumference from the navalposition is calculated. According to researches of the inventor,however, it was found that, even when the orientation information andmotion information that are obtained do not satisfy thesemi-circumference, based on information about the outline for 135degrees (⅜ of the full circumference) from the naval point, the visceralfat area, the subcutaneous fat area, and the abdominal cross-sectionalcircumference may be estimated with almost the same accuracy. Accordingto the present embodiment, as such, an example of processing will bedescribed, assuming that obtainment of the information about the outlinefor at least 135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference) allows a validmeasurement.

At step S101, the user activates the measurement application 9Z for themeasurement of the cross-sectional outline. After the measurementapplication 9Z is activated, the user inputs the actual measured valueof the abdominal circumference preliminarily measured by the tapemeasure and the like to the smartphone 1 (step S111). Or, the actualmeasured value of the abdominal circumference may be retrieved from theuser information preliminarily stored in the storage 9 of the smartphone1. Note that the processing at step S111 does not need to be carried outbefore the start of the measurement but may be carried out after the endof the measurement at step S104. When the motion information is obtainedby the acceleration sensor 16 at step S103, step S111 may be omitted.

Next, the measurement starts at step S102. According to the presentembodiment, the naval position is set to the measurement start position.For example, the measurement starts when the side face 1C1 of thesmartphone 1 is brought to meet the naval position. The user carries outthe starting action preset to the smartphone 1 to start the measurement.

At step S103, the user moves the smartphone 1 along the A-A position onthe surface of the abdomen 60. The user moves the smartphone 1 at aconstant speed while maintaining its contact to the surface of theabdomen 60.

At step S103, the smartphone 1, under the pre-programed conditions,obtains the angular velocity (degree/second) as the orientationinformation by using the angular velocity sensor 18. The orientationinformation is obtained for a plurality of times according to the clocksignal output from the timer 11. The orientation information obtainedaccording to the clock signal is stored in the smartphone 1 togetherwith the obtainment time information. This measurement is continuallyexecuted from the start at step S102 to the end at step S104. Note thatthe acceleration sensor 16 may measure the moving amount as the motioninformation. The motion information obtained by the acceleration sensor16 is similar to that described in the first embodiment, and thus adescription thereof will be omitted here.

Note that the control unit 10A, during execution of step S103, maygenerate sounds at predetermined intervals from the receiver 7 and thelike of the smartphone 1. The user may move the smartphone 1 listeningto the sound generated at predetermined intervals, which makes it easyfor the user to move the smartphone 1 around the abdomen at a constantspeed.

The user moves the smartphone 1 at a constant speed by at least thesemi-circumference of the abdomen 60 while maintaining the contact ofthe smartphone 1 to the surface of the abdomen 60. According to thepresent embodiment, the semi-circumference refers to the motion from thenaval to the center of the back. As described below, when the movementof the smartphone 1 is smaller than 135 degrees (⅜ of the fullcircumference), the accuracy in the calculation of the outline becomesinsufficient, possibly causing an error in the characteristiccoefficient of the outline. Accordingly, the smartphone 1 preferablynotifies the user that data of 135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference)or data of the semi-circumference are obtained.

When the smartphone 1 is move by at least the semi-circumference, theuser carries out the ending action preset to the smartphone 1 to end themeasurement (step S104). Alternatively, the control unit 10A maydetermine that the smartphone 1 has moved by the approximatesemi-circumference when the orientation of the smartphone 1 has changedby 180 degrees from the start of the measurement and automatically endthe measurement. When the smartphone 1 carries out such automaticrecognition, the user does not need to carry out the ending action, andthereby the measurement is more simplified.

Or, when the user, based on the notification from the smartphone 1,knows that the data of 135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference) havebeen obtained, the user may carry out the ending action and the like toend the measurement.

Note that when the control unit 10A, before the movement of thesmartphone 1 reaches the semi-circumference, detects an error such asthere is no change in the orientation information for a predeterminedtime or there is reverse of an increase or decrease in the orientation,the control unit 10A may automatically end the measurement.

When the measurement ends (step S104), the control unit 10A determineswhether the information about at least the semi-circumference has beenobtained (step S201). This determination may be made based on whether,as illustrated in FIG. 18, for example, the orientation information atthe end of the measurement indicates at least 180 degrees. Or, thecontrol unit 10A, based on the time when the measurement ends at stepS104, may determine whether the data of at least the semi-circumferencehave been obtained.

At step S201, when it is determined that the information about at leastthe semi-circumference has been obtained, the control unit 10A, in amanner similar to the third embodiment, calculates thesemi-circumference of the abdominal cross-sectional outline (step S115).The control unit 10A, by carrying out the integration of the angularvelocity obtained at step S103 one time, calculates the orientation ofthe smartphone 1.

An example of the orientation information of the smartphone 1 when theinformation about at least the semi-circumference has been obtained isillustrated in FIG. 18 as described above. The control unit 10A, aftercalculating the semi-circumference of the abdominal cross-sectionaloutline at step S115, carries out correction processing (step S216)similar to that at step S116.

Note that the control unit 10A, as illustrated in FIG. 18, may use theorientation information and the motion information when the user carriesout the starting action such as pressing a start button down and thelike as the information at the start of the measurement (time: 0second). Or, the orientation information and the motion information whenthe smartphone 1 has a predetermined posture may be used as theinformation at the start of the measurement (time: 0 second). That is,the time is set to 0 when the orientation sensor detects thepredetermined posture in which the rear face 1B of the smartphone 1 heldagainst the naval position, and data obtained thereafter may be used forcalculation of the portion of the abdominal outline.

On the other hand, when at step S201 the control unit 10A determinesthat the obtained information does not satisfy the semi-circumference,the control unit 10A determines whether the obtained informationsatisfies 135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference) (step S202). Thisdetermination may be made, for example, by determination whether theorientation information at the end of the measurement satisfies at least135 degrees.

When at step S202 the control unit 10A determines that the obtainedinformation satisfies at least 135 degrees (⅜ of the fullcircumference), the control unit 10A calculates the abdominal outlinefor 135 degrees (step S203). The control unit 10A, by carrying out theintegration of the obtained angular velocity at step S103 one time,calculates the orientation of the smartphone 1.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example of the orientation of the smartphone 1according to the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 24, the horizontal axisindicates the measurement time, and the vertical axis indicatesorientation information when the obtained information satisfies at least135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference) and less than thesemi-circumference. With reference to FIG. 24, a method of extractingthe information about the semi-circumference from the obtainedorientation information will be described. The horizontal axis indicatesthe time; the measurement starts at 0 second and ends at T(3n/8+b)seconds. Here, n represents the full circumference, i.e., 360 degrees,and b represents an angle obtained by subtracting 135 degreescorresponding to ⅜ of the full circumference from the orientation at theend of the measurement. The vertical axis indicates the orientation ofthe smartphone 1. In the figure, a solid line represents the obtainedinformation, and a dotted line represents a virtual line of unobtainedinformation about a rest of the full circumference.

At step S216, the smartphone 1 corrects the result of the calculationcarried out at step S203. FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating thecross-sectional outline corrected based on the orientation informationand the motion information about the outline for 135 degrees (⅜ of thefull circumference). In the figure, the record at time T(3n/8) and therecord at T(n/2) are represented by R(3n/8) and R(n/2), respectively. Inthe figure, a solid bold line represents the calculated cross-sectionaloutline for 135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference), and a dotted boldline represents an outline obtained by replicating the calculatedcross-sectional outline between 90 degrees and 135 degrees. Note thatthe outline is considered to have a substantially oval shape, and aratio of a long side to a short side is taken into account for thereplication. A dotted narrow line in the figure represents an outlineobtained by further replicating the outline between 0 degree and 180degrees obtained by the above processing with respect to the Y-axis. Inthis way, replicating the outline between 90 degrees and 135 degreesallows obtainment of a curve of the outline smoothly connected from 0degree to 180 degrees. Also, the inverting closed curve replicated withrespect to the Y-axis may be obtained.

Here, a reason that, based on the orientation information and the motioninformation for 135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference), the visceralfat area may be estimated with the same accuracy as that estimated basedon the information about the semi-circumference will be described.

FIG. 26 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the abdomen of an adult.FIG. 26 illustrates, in addition to erector spinae muscles 100 locatedon a dorsal side of the spinal column, a spine 101, a subcutaneous fat102, a visceral fat 103, and an organ 104.

As can be seen from FIG. 26, the visceral fat 103 is present in asubstantially concentrating manner in a region outside a straight lineconnecting the center of the abdomen and an outer side of the erectorspinae muscles 100. Also, an angle formed between the straight lineconnecting the center of the abdomen and the outer side of the erectorspinae muscles 100 and a straight line connecting the center of theabdomen and the naval (at top center in FIG. 26) is approximately 135degrees as illustrated in FIG. 26. Therefore, according to the method ofestimating the visceral fat from the characteristics of the shape of theabdominal outline employed by the present invention, the shape of theoutline from 135 degrees to 180 degrees has a very small impact on aresult of the estimation of the visceral fat area.

The smartphone 1, after the correction at step S216, extracts thecharacteristic coefficients from the curve of the cross-sectionaloutline for 135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference) or the invertingclosed curve (step S217). According to the present embodiment, in amanner similar to the third embodiment, the Fourier coefficients Sa₁,Sa₂, Sa₃, and Sa₄ those affect the visceral fat area are extracted asthe characteristic coefficients of the visceral fat. Also, the Fouriercoefficients Sb₁, Sb₂, Sb₃, and Sb₄ those affect the subcutaneous fatarea are extracted as the characteristic coefficients of thesubcutaneous fat. According to the present embodiment, further, Fourierseries those affect the circumference of the abdominal cross-section arealso extracted as the characteristic coefficient of the abdominalcircumference.

The smartphone 1, by substituting the characteristic coefficientsextracted at step S217 into the visceral fat area estimation equation,the subcutaneous fat area estimation equation, and the abdominalcross-sectional circumference estimation equation, estimates the user'svisceral fat area A, subcutaneous fat area B, and abdominalcross-sectional circumference (step S218). Note that examples of thevisceral fat area estimation equation and the subcutaneous fat areaestimation equation correspond to aforementioned Formula 1 and Formula2, respectively.

Next, the smartphone 1, based on the visceral fat area A and thesubcutaneous fat area B estimated at step S218, selects an image havinga highest similarity to the user's abdominal cross-section (step S119).Then, the smartphone 1, from the 25 types of images in theclassification table of the images of the abdominal cross-sectionillustrated in FIG. 21, selects one image corresponding to the estimateduser's visceral fat area A and subcutaneous fat area B. The selectedimage, similarly to the third embodiment, is displayed in the display 2Aof the smartphone 1 (step S110).

Note that the processing from step S217 to step S110 is also carried outafter calculation of the semi-circumference of the abdominal outline atstep S115.

On the other hand, when it is determined at step S202 that the obtainedinformation does not satisfy 135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference),the control unit 10A ends the operation without displaying the image ofthe abdominal cross-section (step S204). Thereby, the smartphone 1avoids confusing the user by displaying data having inadequate accuracy.

Although according to the present embodiment the motion information isobtained from the timer 11, the present invention is not limitedthereto. For example, in a manner similar to the first embodiment, byusing the acceleration sensor 16 as the second sensor unit and carryingout time integration of obtained acceleration information two times, themoving amount of the smartphone 1 may be calculated.

According to the present embodiment, as described above, even if themeasured abdominal outline does not satisfy the semi-circumference, whenthe orientation information and the motion information for 135 degrees(⅜ of the full circumference) are obtained, the visceral fat area may beaccurately estimated.

According to the present embodiment, also, in addition to the visceralfat area and the subcutaneous fat area, the abdominal cross-sectionalcircumference may also be estimated.

According to the present embodiment, also, during obtainment of theorientation information and the motion information, the smartphone 1generates the sound at predetermined intervals. Thereby, the user mayeasily move the smartphone around the abdomen at a constant speed.

According to the present embodiment, also, when the measured abdominaloutline does not satisfy 135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference), theimage of the abdominal cross-section is not displayed. Thereby, it isensured that the smartphone 1 avoids confusing the user by displayingdata having inadequate accuracy.

According to the present embodiment, further, the orientationinformation and the motion information after the smartphone 1 has thepredetermined posture is used for calculation of a portion of theabdominal outline. Thereby, the smartphone 1 may always start themeasurement while having a predetermined correct posture.

Next, verification tests of the present embodiment were carried out, andthus an effect of the present invention was confirmed. For themeasurement, a smartphone (model number: WX10K) manufactured by KyoceraCorporation was used. A correlation between the visceral fat areaestimated from the obtained information and the visceral fat areaobtained by the CT is evaluated by using correlation coefficients. Asfor the correction method of the abdominal outline, the method ofcomplementing the outline from 135 degrees to 180 degrees with astraight line (FIG. 27A) and the method of complementing the outlinefrom 135 degrees to 180 degrees by replicating an outline from 90degrees to 135 degrees to serve as the data of the outline from 135degrees to 180 degrees (FIG. 27B) were compared with each other. As aresult, while the correlation coefficient obtained by the method ofcomplementing the outline from 135 degrees to 180 degrees with thestraight line was 0.72, the correlation coefficient obtained by themethod of complementing the outline by replicating the data from 90degrees to 135 degrees was 0.82, which is a better value. As can be seenfrom this result, as a method of complementing unmeasured data, themethod of complementing the outline by replicating the data from 90degrees to 135 degrees is more appropriate.

Table 1 shows, with respect to 105 male subjects, a correlation betweenthe visceral fat area and the subcutaneous fat area estimated from theobtained information and the visceral fat area and the subcutaneous fatarea obtained by the CT, categorized for each length of the measuredabdominal outline.

TABLE 1 Calculated Correlation coefficient of Correlation coefficient ofcircumferential visceral fat area subcutaneous fat area outline (Male, n= 105, BMI <40) (Male, n = 105, BMI <40) Full 0.81 0.90 or morecircumference Semi- 0.82 0.90 or more circumference 135 degrees 0.820.90 or more (⅜ of full circumference) ¼ of full 0.78 0.90 or morecircumference

As a result, when the outline of ¼ of the full circumference wascalculated, the correlation coefficient of the visceral fat area is0.78. On the other hand, when the outline for 135 degrees (⅜ of the fullcircumference) or more is calculated, the correlation coefficient of thevisceral fat area is 0.82. Accordingly, it can be seen that thecalculation of the outline for 135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference)as described above allows the estimation of the visceral fat area havingan adequate accuracy. It can be also seen that the subcutaneous fat areaof the outline of at least ¼ of the full circumference does not rely onthe calculated outline but allows obtainment of a high correlationcoefficient of at least 0.90.

Table 2 shows a result of the estimation of the abdominalcross-sectional circumference according to the present embodiment. Thatis, Table 2 shows, with respect to each of the calculatedcircumferential outline, correlation coefficients between the result ofthe estimation of the abdominal circumference from a portion of theoutline and an actual measured abdominal circumference. Shown at rightend of Table 2 are, as reference data, correlation coefficients betweena result of the calculation of the abdominal circumference bymultiplying the calculated circumference of the portion of the outlineby a predetermined multiple and the actual measured abdominalcircumference. The calculated circumference of the portion of theoutline refers to the moving amount of the smartphone 1 calculated fromthe obtained motion information.

TABLE 2 Calculated Estimation from partial Multiplying partial outlinecircumferential outline shape by prescribed multiple outline (Male, n =105, BMI <40) (Male, n = 105, BMI <40) Semi- 0.90 0.99 (double of ½ offull circumference circumferential outline) 135 degrees 0.85 0.79 ( 8/3times of ⅜ of (⅜ of full full circumferential outline) circumference) ¼of full 0.83 0.74 (four times of ¼ of circumference full circumferentialoutline)

As can be seen from Table 2, as for the semi-circumference outline,doubling the calculated portion of the outline has a higher correlationcoefficient: 0.99. On the other hand, as for the calculated outline for135 degrees (⅜ of the full circumference) or ¼ of the fullcircumference, the circumference estimated from the portion of theoutline has a higher correlation coefficient. Since the abdominal shapeis bilaterally symmetric, when the circumference of a left half outlineor a right half outline may be measured, the abdominal circumferenceobtained by simply doubling the circumference of the left half outlineor the right half outline has a higher accuracy. On the other hand, whenthe measured outline does not satisfy the semi-circumference, it isconsidered that the full circumference of the abdomen estimated from theshape of the outline has a higher accuracy.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodimentsbut may be modified or changed in a variety of manners. For example, thecalculation and the estimation may be carried out by using either one ofthe visceral fat area and the subcutaneous fat area. Also, theclassification of the image of the abdominal cross-section does not needto be based on the combination of the visceral fat area and thesubcutaneous fat area but may be based on either one of them.

Next, a system according to the embodiment of the present invention willbe described in detail with reference to the drawing.

A system according to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 28 includes aserver 80, the smartphone 1, and a communication network. As illustratedin FIG. 28, the result of the calculation of the cross-sectional outlinemeasured by the smartphone 1 is transmitted, via the communicationnetwork, to the server 80 which classifies and determines thecross-sectional outline and sends an image and advice to the user. Thesmartphone 1 may display, in the display 2A, the image and the liketransmitted from the server 80. Since the use of a communication meansof the smartphone 1 allows the server 80 to collect information from aplurality of users, an accuracy in the classification and determinationis improved. Alternatively, the orientation information, the motioninformation, and the abdominal circumference those are obtained may betransmitted to the server 80. In this case, the server 80 calculates thecross-sectional outline, thereby reducing a load on the controller 10 ofthe smartphone 1 used by the user to carry out the calculation and thusallowing size reduction and simplification of the smartphone 1. Also,the calculation speed is increased.

Although in the system according to the present embodiment thesmartphone 1 and the server 80 are connected via the communicationnetwork, the system of the present invention is not limited thereto. Thesystem only needs a probe for moving along the surface of the object, afirst sensor unit for obtaining the orientation information of theprobe, a device unit for obtaining motion information of the probe, anda control unit for calculating the cross-sectional outline of theobject. Also, each of these components may be connected via acommunication means.

For a full and clear disclosure of the present invention, characteristicembodiments are described above. However, claims attached hereto are notlimited to the above embodiments but should be configured so as toembody all modifications and possible alternates those skilled in theart may create within the fundamentals set forth herein.

For example, although in the above embodiments the smartphone 1 is usedas the apparatus, the apparatus of the present invention is not limitedthereto but only needs to include the first sensor unit, the deviceunit, and the control unit. Further, the apparatus of the presentinvention does not need to include the first sensor unit, the deviceunit, and the control unit therein but those units may be independent ofone another.

Also, although in the above embodiments the measurement of the abdominalcross-sectional outline is described, the present invention isapplicable also to measurements of cross-sectional outlines of otherstructures.

Also, although in the above embodiments the orientation sensor and theangular velocity sensor are used as the first sensor unit, the firstsensor unit may be constituted by using a different item such as, forexample, the inclination sensor and the like, as long as being capableof obtaining the orientation information of the apparatus thereof.

Also, although in the above embodiments the acceleration sensor or theelectronic tape measure is used as the second sensor unit, the secondsensor unit may be constituted by using a different item such as, forexample, an electronic roller telemeter for obtaining the motioninformation by detecting the number of rotations of a wheel, as long asbeing capable of obtaining the motion information of the apparatusthereof.

Further, although in the above embodiments examples of the measurementsof the cross-sectional outline of the full circumference, thesemi-circumference, or ¼ of the full circumference of the object aredescribed, other amounts may also be measured. For example, measuring across-sectional outline of two circuits of the subject and averagingthus obtained data allows highly accurate measurement with lessfluctuation.

Many aspects of the present disclosure are shown as a series ofoperations executed by hardware such as a computer system and the likethat are capable of executing program instructions. The hardware such asthe computer system and the like include, for example, a general-purposecomputer, a PC (personal computer), a special purpose computer, aworkstation, a PCS (Personal Communications System: a personal mobilecommunication system), a mobile (cellular) phone, a mobile phone with adata processing function, an RFID receiver, a gaming machine, anelectronic notepad, a laptop computer, a GPS (Global Positioning System)receiver, and a programmable data processing apparatus. Note that ineach of the embodiments various operations are executed by a dedicatedcircuit (for example, individual logic gates interconnected forexecution of a particular function) implemented by a program instruction(software), or a logic block, a program module and the like those areexecuted by at least one processor. Such at least one processor forexecuting the logical block, the program module and the like includes,for example, at least one microprocessor, CPU (Central Processing Unit),ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), DSP (Digital SignalProcessor), PLD (Programmable Logic Device), FPGA (Field ProgrammableGate Array), a processor, a controller, a microprocessor, an electronicapparatus, and other apparatuses designed to be able to execute thefunctions described herein and/or any combination of these apparatuses.The embodiments described herein are implemented by, for example,hardware, software, firmware, middleware, a microcode, or anycombination thereof. The instruction may be a program code or a codesegment for executing a necessary task. Also, the instruction may bestored in a machine-readable non-transitory storage medium or othermedia. The code segment may indicate a procedure, a function, asubprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a softwarepackage, a class or an instruction, a data structure or a programstatement, or any combination thereof. The code segment transmits and/orreceives information, data parameters, variables or stored contents withanother code segment or a hardware circuit, thereby connecting with theanother code segment or the hardware circuit.

The network used herein includes, unless otherwise specified, Internet,an ad-hoc network, LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network),MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), a cellular network, WWAN (Wireless WideArea Network), WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network), PSTN (PublicSwitched Telephone Network), a terrestrial wireless network (TerrestrialWireless Network), other networks, and any combination thereof.Components of the wireless network include, for example, an access point(e.g., a Wi-Fi access point), a femtocell and the like. Further, awireless communication apparatus may be connected with the wirelessnetwork employing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (registered trademark), a cellularcommunication technology (e.g., CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access),TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), FDMA (Frequency Division MultipleAccess), OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access), SC-FDM(Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access)), or other wirelesstechnologies and/or wireless technical standards. The network may employone or more technologies such as, for example, UTMS (Universal MobileTelecommunications System), LTE (Long Term Evolution), EV-DO(Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data Only), GSM (registeredtrademark) (Global System for Mobile communications), WiMAX (WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access), CDMA-2000 (Code DivisionMultiple Access-2000), and TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous CodeDivision Multiple Access).

A configuration of a circuit such as the communication unit providesfunctionality by using a variety of wireless communication networks suchas, for example, WWAN, WLAN, WPAN and the like. WWAN may be a CDMAnetwork, a TDMA network, an FDMA network, an OFDMA network, an SC-FDMAnetwork and the like. The CDMA network may be implemented with one ormore RAT (Radio Access Technology) such as CDMA-2000, Wideband-CDMA(W-CDMA) and the like. CDMA-2000 includes standards of IS-95, IS-2000,and IS-856. The TDMA network may be implemented with the RAT such as GSM(registered trademark), D-AMPS (Digital Advanced Phone System) and thelike. GSM (registered trademark) and W-CDMA are described in documentsissued by a consortium called 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).CDMA-2000 is described in documents issued by a consortium called 3rdGeneration Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2). WLAN may be a network ofIEEE802.11x. WPAN may be a Bluetooth (registered trademark) network, ora network of IEEE802.5x or another. CDMA may be implemented as thewireless technology such as UTRA (Universal Terrestrial Radio Access) orCDMA-2000. TDMA may be implemented by the wireless technologies such asGSM (registered trademark)/GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)/EDGE(Enhanced Data Rates for GSM (registered trademark) Evolution). OFDMAmay be implemented by the wireless technologies such as IEEE (Instituteof Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE802.16(WiMAX), IEEE802.20, E-UTRA (Evolved UTRA) and the like. Thesetechnologies may be used for any combination of WWAN, WLAN and/or WPAN.Also, these technologies may be implemented to use a UMB (Ultra MobileBroadband) network, a HRPD (High Rate Packet Data) network, a CDMA20001Xnetwork, GSM (registered trademark), LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and thelike.

The storage used herein may further serve as a computer-readabletangible carrier (medium) that falls under categories of a solid statememory, a magnetic disc, and an optical disc. Such a medium stores anappropriate set of computer instructions such as program modules formaking a processor to execute the techniques disclosed herein, and adata structure. The computer-readable medium includes an electricalconnection with one or more cables, a magnetic disc storage medium, amagnetic cassette, a magnetic tape, other magnetic and optical storageapparatuses (for example, CD (Compact Disk), a laser disc (registeredtrademark), DVD (registered trademark) (Digital Versatile Disc), afloppy (registered trademark) disk, and Blu-ray disk (registeredtrademark)), a mobile computer disc, RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM(Read-Only Memory), EPROM, EEPROM, a rewritable and programmable ROMsuch as a flash memory, other tangible storage media capable of storinginformation, and any combination thereof. The memory may be providedinside and/or outside a processor/processing unit. As used herein, theterm “memory” refers to all types of memories including a long termstorage, a short-term storage, a volatile storage, a nonvolatilestorage, and other storages, and is not limited to a particular type, aparticular number of the memories, or a type of the memory to storeinformation.

Note that the system having various modules and/or units for executingparticular functions is disclosed herein, and those modules and/or unitsare schematically illustrated for a simple description offunctionalities thereof and thus do not represent particularhardware/software. In this sense, those modules, units, and othercomponents may be hardware and/or software implemented for substantiallyexecuting the particular functions described herein. Variety offunctions of different components may be executed by any combination ofhardware and/or software or separated hardware and/or software and thusthese components may be used separately, or in any combination thereof.Also, an input/output or I/O device or a user interface including, butnot limited to, a keyboard, a display, a touchscreen, a pointing deviceand the like may be connected to the system directly or via anintervening I/O controller. As described above, various aspects of thepresent disclosure may be implemented in various different manners, andthus all of those manners are included in the scope of the presentdisclosure.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   1 smartphone-   1A front face-   1B rear face-   1C1 to 4, 71C2 side face-   2, 72 touchscreen display-   2A display-   2B touchscreen-   3 button-   4 illuminance sensor-   5 proximity sensor-   6 communication unit-   7 receiver-   8 microphone-   9 storage-   9A control program-   9B message application-   9C browser application-   9Z measurement application-   10 controller-   10A control unit-   11 timer-   12, 13 camera-   14 connector-   15 motion sensor-   16 acceleration sensor-   17 orientation sensor-   18 angular velocity sensor-   19 inclination sensor-   20, 70 housing-   60 abdomen-   71 electronic tape measure-   73 tape measure-   74 stopper-   80 server-   100 elector spinae muscles-   101 spine-   102 subcutaneous fat-   103 visceral fat-   104 organ

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of estimating body fat with anapparatus comprising a control unit, the method comprising: a step ofobtaining orientation information by a first sensor and motioninformation of the apparatus itself by a device; a step of calculating aportion of an abdominal outline by the control unit, based on theorientation information and the motion information; a step ofcalculating shape characteristics by the control unit, based on thecalculated portion of the abdominal outline; and a step of estimating bythe control unit, based on the shape characteristics, at least one of avisceral fat area and a subcutaneous fat area of an abdominalcross-section, wherein the step of calculating the shape characteristicsis performed by extracting characteristic coefficients based on theportion of the abdominal outline.
 2. The method of estimating body fataccording to claim 1, further comprising a step of controlling a displayby the control unit to display an image of the abdominal cross-sectioncorresponding to at least one of the visceral fat area and thesubcutaneous fat area that are estimated.
 3. The method of estimatingbody fat according to claim 1, further comprising a step of carrying outcorrection by the control unit such that the abdominal outline forms acontinuous closed curve, based on the portion of the abdominal outline.4. The method of estimating body fat according to claim 1, furthercomprising a step of estimating, when the portion of the abdominaloutline is shorter than a predetermined portion of the abdominaloutline, based on a portion of the abdominal outline that is shorterthan the predetermined portion of the abdominal outline and suitable forthe estimation, at least one of a visceral fat area and a subcutaneousfat area of the abdominal cross-section.
 5. The method of estimatingbody fat according to claim 1, wherein the calculated abdominal outlineis less than the semi-circumference.
 6. A method of estimating body fatwith an apparatus comprising a control unit, the method comprising: astep of obtaining orientation information by a first sensor and motioninformation of the apparatus itself by a device; a step of calculating aportion of an abdominal outline by the control unit, based on theorientation information and the motion information; a step ofcalculating shape characteristics by the control unit, based on thecalculated portion of the abdominal outline; and a step of estimating bythe control unit, based on the shape characteristics, a circumference ofan abdominal cross-section, wherein the step of calculating the shapecharacteristics is performed by extracting characteristic coefficientsbased on the portion of the abdominal outline.
 7. The method ofestimating body fat according to claim 6, wherein the calculatedabdominal outline is less than the semi-circumference.
 8. An apparatuscomprising: a control unit; a first sensor communicatively coupled withthe control unit, the first sensor configured to obtain orientationinformation of the apparatus itself; a device communicatively coupledwith the control unit, the device configured to obtain motioninformation of the apparatus itself; and a display configured to displayan image of an abdominal cross-section corresponding to at least one ofa visceral fat area and a subcutaneous fat area of the abdominalcross-section estimated based on shape characteristics calculated basedon a portion of an abdominal outline calculated based on the orientationinformation and the motion information, wherein the calculation of theshape characteristics is performed by extracting characteristiccoefficients based on the portion of the abdominal outline.
 9. Theapparatus according to claim 8, wherein the first sensor includes anorientation sensor, an angular velocity sensor, or an inclinationsensor.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the deviceincludes a second sensor communicatively coupled with the control unit,the second sensor configured to obtain the motion information of theapparatus itself.
 11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein thesecond sensor includes an acceleration sensor or an electronic tapemeasure.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the deviceincludes a timer.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein theapparatus further includes a sound generation unit communicativelycoupled with the control unit, the sound generation unit configured togenerate sound at predetermined intervals while the device is obtainingthe motion information.
 14. The apparatus according to claim 8, whereinthe control unit is configured to operate the display, and wherein, whena predetermined range of the orientation information is not obtained,the display is prevented from displaying the image of the abdominalcross-section by the control unit.
 15. The apparatus according to claim8, further wherein the control unit, by using the orientationinformation and the motion information obtained after the apparatus hasa predetermined posture ready for a measurement, calculates the portionof the abdominal outline.
 16. The apparatus according to claim 8,wherein the calculated abdominal outline is less than thesemi-circumference.
 17. A system comprising: a probe; a first sensorconfigured to obtain orientation information of the probe; a deviceconfigured to obtain motion information of the probe; and a control unitcommunicatively coupled with the first sensor and the device, thecontrol unit configured to estimate, based on shape characteristicscalculated based on a portion of an abdominal cross-section calculatedbased on the orientation information and the motion information, atleast one of a visceral fat area and a subcutaneous fat area of theabdominal cross-section, wherein the calculation of the shapecharacteristics is performed by extracting characteristic coefficientsbased on the portion of the abdominal outline.
 18. The system accordingto claim 17, wherein the calculated abdominal outline is less than thesemi-circumference.